In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream ‘Authorship!’
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Hugvísindasvið In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream ‘Authorship!’ The Shift of Authorship in the Alien Franchise from the Producer to the Director to the Star Ritgerð til B.A.-prófs Erlingur Grétar Einarsson Maí 2011 Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Enskuskor In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream ‘Authorship!’ The Shift of Authorship in the Alien Franchise from the Producer to the Director to the Star Ritgerð til B.A.-prófs Erlingur Grétar Einarsson Kt.: 090482-5569 Leiðbeinandi: Martin Regal Maí 2011 Abstract This thesis discusses the issue of authorship in the Alien film franchise. An attempt is made to dissect how the films are influenced by the producers of the franchise, the directors of each film and the star playing the main role in them. The main issue is how authorship shifts from one agent to another between installments. The first part of the thesis is an analysis of each of the four directors who have directed an Alien film, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and how their specific tendencies formed each Alien film to fit their own directorial vision as much as conforming their installment to a genre or a previous entry. All four directors had considerable influence on both the style and story of their respective films, but while the first two, Scott and Cameron, are considered “authors” of their respective installments, the second two are not. The reasons for that are argued in the second and third part. The second part of the thesis discusses Sigourney Weaver and her stardom, which plays an important part in the shifting authorship of the Alien franchise. Her career and the evolution of her celebrity over the 18 years between the first Alien installment and the last is discussed and analyzed. She evolved from being a newcomer to a prominent film star while regularly returning to the same character. The third part discusses the perception and reception of each Alien installment by analyzing reviews and promotional material for the films. This approach brings the shift of authorship over the Alien films from the producers to the directors to the star into clear light. Index Introduction 1 Film franchises and directorial authorship in the Alien franchise 5 Ridley Scott and Alien 6 James Cameron and Aliens 10 David Fincher and Alien 3 15 Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Alien: Resurrection 18 Sigourney Weaver‘s stardom 22 The perception of authorship 29 The perception of authorship in Alien 29 The perception of authorship in Aliens 32 The perception of authorship in Alien 3 34 The perception of authorship in Alien: Resurrection 36 Conclusion 38 References 40 Introduction [Sigourney:] „Fincher was obviously very young but keen to tackle that enormous responsibility. The directors have always been the stars of each movie really. And until we found the right genius, the Alien 3 project never felt set. Only when Fincher appeared did we feel we were in good hands. The first words out of his mouth were ´Shave Ripley„s head´! I knew instantly he wasn„t going to be a quiet and undaring director. (Jones, 16) But the show quite rightly belongs to Sigourney Weaver, and her shaven headed presence – arrived at due to the prevalence of space lice – ensures that the quality of the film is never in question, and interest in it is always high. (Brett, 26) Who is the real and definitive author of any modern film? The authorship of film has been a complex subject both inside and outside the academy for decades. Auteur theory, genre theory and star studies all offer a distinct viewpoint on the subject of what really controls the ultimate result of any film production. But a definitive answer to this question has never been found, for even the meaning of the word “auteur” has never been fully defined or explained. When it comes to modern American filmmaking, the issue becomes trickier still. Directors, producers, stars, even cinematographers, editors or composers, can lay claim to authorship over the final result of almost any film, and academics, professional film critics and journalists, as well as the every-day viewer, every one of them interested in determining the “real” author of the film they just saw, 1 can, have and will easily become lost in the labyrinth of authorship in modern Hollywood. The two opening quotes are taken from the same issue of Film Review, the monthly British film magazine. The first is from Alan Jones‟s interview with Sigourney Weaver, the main actress of the then newly released Alien 3 (1992), directed by David Fincher. The second is taken from Anwar Brett‟s review of the same film. In these two quotes there is an obvious clash in the reading of one of the most talked-about elements of that film - the shaved head of Ellen Ripley, the main character in the Alien film franchise. Weaver herself attributes this decision to the director, while the reviewer, only ten pages later in the very same issue, gives Weaver all the credit for her “shaven headed presence”. Why – and how – does this come about? Why is the power of authorship attributed to the main actress instead of the director, a man who has been called an “auteur” by film scholars, or even the producers of this successful science- fiction franchise? The Alien film franchise is a perfect example of how authorship is not only read in different ways, but also how it shifts from one agent of authorship to another through several installments. The first film about Ellen Ripley and her encounters with the now famous, near- unstoppable “xenomorph” that wreaks havoc on Ripley„s spaceship, Alien, came out in 1979. It made its mark on film history, not least in regards to special effects, suspense and its modern blend of horror and science fiction, but more still in regards to characters that had a profound impact on its audience. The success of Alien, both commercial and critical, resulted in the eventual production of three direct sequels, Aliens (1986), Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection (1997), as well as two spin-off films combining the world of Alien with the world of Predator, a 1987 action film, another successful blend of the 2 monster horror and science fiction genres, AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), and AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem (2007). In addition, a prequel, tentatively titled Prometheus, is currently in production under the direction of Ridley Scott, the director of the first Alien film. The first four films have achieved status as one the most popular and respected Hollywood film franchises of the last few decades, and in this essay they will be referred to as the Alien franchise or Alien series. All four films revolve around the same central character, Ellen Ripley, played by actress Sigourney Weaver, and her repeated encounters with members of the same predatory, hostile and deadly alien race, as well as her conflict with other humans who want to capture the xenomorph for either financial or military benefits. Despite these semantic similarities between the films, they are all easily discernible from each other; the main reason for this is that each film was made by a different director; Alien was directed by Ridley Scott, Aliens was directed (and written) by James Cameron and the third film, Alien 3, was directed by David Fincher, while the fourth film, Alien: Resurrection, was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. What is most remarkable about this line-up of directors is that today each and every one of them is considered among the most respected filmmakers in the world and all of them have enjoyed that status for a number of decades. Their films are easily identifiable, both in regards to narrative and visual style as well as ideology. All of them have been regarded as auteurs at various points in their career, be it by academic writers, critics or their audience. These directors‟ participation in the installments of entries in a film franchise creates a unique combination of auteur filmmaking and genre films as parts of a Hollywood studio franchise. 3 In addition to this combination of genre film and auteur film in the Alien franchise, there is a third important element: Sigourney Weaver, the star. Over the course of the 18 years in which the four Alien films were conceived, Sigourney Weaver developed from being a newcomer to being a physical actress and later a critical favorite demanding top-billing in her films, before achieving a permanent status as a seminal star in Hollywood. Through that process she in turn gains certain level of authorship over her work, be it through the perception of those who see it or in her direct influence on its production. What makes the Alien franchise so interesting in an academic context is exactly this; the development from genre film to auteur film to star vehicle over the course of its four installments. The most sufficient way to address this development is by setting a baseline; what does the ordinary film franchise installment in Hollywood look like? 4 Film franchises and directorial authorship in the Alien franchise Hollywood is the birthplace of an immense amount of film franchises, tracing back to as early as the second decade of the 20th century. The vast majority of these franchises is most easily defined and recognizable by each one‟s internal homogeneity. The most obvious example is the James Bond franchise. Currently the Bond canon consists of twenty-two official, Broccoli-produced films, with the twenty-third in active production. The first film, Dr. No, released in 1962, is not only nearly semantically, but also ideologically identical to the sixteenth one, License to Kill, released in 1989.